Warmth of the Rain
by Rowan Fox
Summary: Hiei finds himself in front of a certain fox's house when he is feeling rather alone. Kurama welcomes him with open arms, and shows him warmth. Implied Shounen-ai. (Remember, writers live on reviews!)


Warmth of the Rain---This is a short ficlet I did on Kurama and Hiei, could be implied Shounen-ai, if you wanted it to be, but it wasn't written to be. Just a thing on how one friend supports another when they need it. Please Read and Review, give me suggestions for a part II if you want it. Check out some of my other stuff too!

Claimage: I wrote it, I keep it. It's my plot, please don't steal it or else I'll send Hiei-kun after you. And he's been deprived of sweet snow for a week. Thank you!

Disclaimer: Two words. FAN. FICTION. There IS a reason for the name. (For you dimwits out there, I am not Togashi. As far as I am concerned, he was not a fan girl in his past life.) Enjoy

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The rumble of thunder drifted across the stormy sky. Rain poured down in sheets, making the shoes of a black haired fire demon saturated and spattered with mud and water. His cloak was covered with water too, so that it mattered not, if he was wearing it or not, he was soaked, and raindrops fell on him, dripping through his hair. They ran almost loving trails down his forehead and onto his face. They landed on his white scarf and trickled down into his shirt. _Well, this is certainly unlike me. _He thought sardonically to himself. But he pushed the thought away, not ready to deal with his caustic subconscious. 

As he rounded the corner, he counted the houses as he passed them. _1...2...3...4_. Here it was. Looking over the house, he felt his emotions enhance, everything he'd been feeling doubled, although there was a splash of relief mixed in. The dark sad tug on his heart, the annoyances tugging at his resolve and sanity, the heaviness on his chest and soul. He would never admit it. Never. But deep down, he knew he needed someone. And right now, he was standing in front of that someone's house. Just glancing at the house again, his aching muscles relaxed, and he sighed, almost relieved. He knew he had arrived at the one place he had unending support from. He'd always been offered the comfort…and now, he had taken the offer. This was his place of solitude and support in the Ningenkai…not his home, definitely not. But it was the home of the one person he knew he could turn to at anytime. Walking up to the door, he looked down at his muddy feet and twisted the handle.   
  
As he entered, a million scents rushed out at him, some foreign, some familiar. He closed the door and stood still on the threshold. What was he to do now? He'd never come to the house through the door.   
  
There were a few small thumps around the stairs in front of him, and a figure rounded the corner. Hiei raised his ruby eyes slowly to meet the figure's own, who was now placed on the landing of the stairs.   
  
"Hiei…" murmured Kurama, looking down at the rain-soaked Koorime. He hesitated only a moment before running down the stairs, his blue jeans flapping around his legs. Soon he stood right in front of Hiei, yet still looking down at him.   
  
"Hey Hiei…What's up?" asked Kurama, smiling kindly at him. Hiei, whose gaze had returned to the floor, now looked up to meet Kurama's shining green eyes with his crimson ones. He couldn't even bring himself to answer with a 'Hn'. He stayed silent. "C'mon," said Kurama, and turned to walk upstairs to his room. Hiei made to follow him, then stopped abruptly, and slipped off his shoes next to the door. They were muddy and rain splattered, looking very tainted compared to Kurama's clean black and white sneakers. Hiei sighed, and followed Kurama up the stairs. Kurama pushed open the door to his room, and let Hiei in first. "I'll be right back," Kurama said, and left. "Make yourself comfortable, whatever you want." he called lightly over his shoulder.   
  
Hiei walked calmly over to Kurama's bed, and crawled over it, to his favorite corner, coincidentally, the same corner where Kurama slept. Picking up one of the pillows on Kurama's bed, after making sure Kurama wasn't coming up the stairs, he buried his head in it, biting his lower lip to keep from digging his nails into it. Instead, he wrapped his arms around it, and held it close to his chest, resting his head on top of the soft fabric.   
  
He breathed in deeply, and smelled Kurama's scent all over the pillow. He just sat there and stared at the wall opposite him, smelling Kurama's soft cologne-like fragrance tinted with the scent of roses. Kurama's scent was familiar, safe, and he knew that it had been the right decision when he'd opened Kurama's door.   
  
The door opened again, and Kurama came in with two bowls filled to the top with sweet snow. Two silver spoons stuck out from the red and blue bowls. Hiei smiled slightly, as he took the bowl from Kurama's offering hand. "Thank you…"he said, watching Kurama, who walked over to his radio and turned on J-Zeta.   
  
Crawling over next to Hiei on his full-sized bed, they sat together, eating their sweet snow. Hiei would never say it, but his heart was becoming lighter by the second. Just sitting here with Kurama, it made the shadows tugging at his mind and heart lift a little. Kurama knows me too well… he thought, as he lifted more of the sweet coldness to his mouth.   
  
"So what's up?" asked Kurama. Hiei didn't answer. What do you say in moments like this? _'I couldn't deal with the rest of the world, so I came to you, my only shred of sanity in the world for comfort'._ Yeah. That sounded like him. Riiiight.   
  
"Nothing much." said Hiei. Kurama said nothing, and watched Hiei silently, still eating his ice cream, as he examined his best friend with his emerald eyes, waiting for him to say more. He didn't.   
  
"That it?" he probed gently. Hiei looked down and bit his tongue. He sighed. Screw it.   
  
"I just…needed someone to be around that I could stand. You happen to be the only one in that category right now. I just needed someone to listen to me, I guess. Just to know that someone was close," he said, the sentimental words feeling foreign on his tongue. Kurama set his empty bowl aside.   
  
"You know I'll always be here to listen and whatnot. I'm always here, Hiei."   
  
Hiei nodded, and stared down into his bowl at the slightly melted ice cream.   
  
"I know."  
  
"You're ok, though?" Kurama asked, still looking at him.  
  
"Yes." Hiei said softly, putting his bowl on Kurama's nightstand. He drew his knees up to him and holding the same pillow to his torso.   
  
"You don't have to give me details, I know.' said Kurama into the silence. He felt the aura all too clearly around Hiei, his emotions a mix of anger, sadness, tiredness, annoyance and just depressed in general.  
  
They sat in silence for a while, Kurama watching his best friend think. Little did he know that at that moment, Hiei was thanking whoever it was in the heavens that he had Kurama there for him, always.

He sighed and stared into space, thinking until Kurama reached across him and grabbed his bowl. He told Hiei just to sit there while he ran downstairs. Getting up from his bed, he walked from the room, and Hiei sat still in the corner, re-familiarizing himself with Kurama's room.   
  
He laid his head on the pillow and shut his eyes. A soft click met his ears and Hiei looked up sharply, not expecting to be disturbed s soon. But it was only Kurama, returning and closing the door.  
  
The redheaded fox crawled back onto his bed next to Hiei, who in turn let his head rest back on the pillow.   
  
"It's alright Hiei…you can close your eyes, nothing's coming after you here."   
  
Hiei smiled a little, not much more than a tired twitch of his lips, and put the pillow he'd been clutching behind his back. He scooted down a little on the bed, turned on his side toward Kurama, and nuzzled into the pillow. Kurama's scent enveloped him and made him feel more protected than ever. He closed his eyes and folded his arms around his torso, his aching muscles feeling so good as they finally relaxed.   
  
"Thank you Fox," Hiei murmured again.   
  
"Don't worry about it. Go to sleep." Kurama said, smiling gently as he watched over his best friend, feeling the torrent of emotions slowly come to a rest as he settled down.   
  
Thunder rolled again, and rain continued to pour as Hiei sighed again, curling up slightly, and slowly drifted into a peaceful, deep sleep.


End file.
